Tangled Webs
by BloodyCrystal
Summary: YuukoxClow Theirs is a long story, set against a backdrop of foreknowledge and plots, and saturated with sake. Lots of sake.


**Notes: **idea taken from the LJ **1sentence** community, gamma set.  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own xxxHOLiC because I do not happen to be a member of CLAMP. How disappointing for me.

**IMPORTANT NOTE: **When you leave an anonymous review, how can I respond with no e-mail address? You asked a valid question, and I wanted to explain. So, for those of you who are reading this: I wrote this story before knowing about Yuuko's backstory and the true history between her, Fei Wong Reed, and Clow. Therefore, quite a few of these have obviously been proven to be non-canon. I do not appreciate being told spoilers, and part of the review was a spoiler because I have not gotten that far in the series. So please, keep in mind that I'm American and therefore only have access to those chapters published by Del Ray, and this was written quite a while ago now, before I knew certain facts that I still shouldn't know based on where I am in the story.

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**1. Ring**

"You want a ring?" he asks, one eyebrow quirked upwards in amusement before continuing, "I thought you didn't want an illusion of forever, my dear."

**2. Memory**

His memory is strong in her shop, and not even alcohol can purge her sanctuary of his ghostly presence.

**3. Hero**

Heroes don't live long lives, so she wonders if that makes her the villain.

**4. Box**

She keeps the lid of the box pressed firmly closed, for unlike Pandora she knows too well what lies inside.

**5. Run**

"Why do you run from death?" he asks; "Why do you embrace it?" she counters.

**6. Hurricane**

He is like a force of nature, blowing into your life and rearranging it, without ever stopping to let you have your say in what gets put back where.

**7. Wings**

"You would look beautiful with butterfly wings," he tells her; she knows he is drunk and so disregards it completely.

**8. Cold**

She looks over at him when he puts his jacket around her shoulders and he explains, with that stupid smile of his, "you were shivering."

**9. Red**

She holds the silk kimono up against her skin, admiring it, and tells him, "at least this one goes with my eyes."

**10. Drink**

"To you, Clow, and your plans that entangle me until I pass from this world," she murmurs, downing the cup as she waits for a black-haired little boy to grow a bit older.

**11. Midnight**

Midnight is the time of magic and witches, and so it is at that time that he most often visits her.

**12. Temptation**

"Lead me not into temptation," she taunts, flinging his words back in his face, hands slipping to his shoulders as he draws her face up to meet his own.

**13. View**

"The view is just fine," he assures her, eyes sparkling at her over the sake glass.

**14. Music**

She almost never plays music, so he takes it upon himself to hum and sing whenever he is in her house.

**15. Silk**

Her dress is silk, smooth and clingy, and he admires her profile as she saunters ahead of him.

**16. Cover**

She smiles sadly down at his sleeping form, and thinks that he merely looks like a tired man, and so she treats him as such and covers him with her outer kimono.

**17. Promise**

"I don't make promises I can't keep," he assures her, blue eyes wise, at their first meeting.

**18. Dream**

"The dream must end," she whispers, repeating what Clow told her, and she knows the truth of it all too well.

**19. Candle**

She lights a candle and places it in a paper container before setting the container adrift on a river in the middle of summer, surrounded by others doing the exact same ritual.

**20. Talent**

He has a talent for making everyone else look incompetent, and she hates him for it.

**21. Silence**

There is rarely silence when they are together these days, for she doesn't like the reminder that soon she will no longer have his company.

**22. Journey**

"I look forward to the next step of my journey," the letter he wrote to her says, and she crumples it up, ignoring the wetness in her eyes as she slumps onto her couch.

**23. Fire**

She is passionate and temperamental, prone to childish fits, but she will consume any who get in her way.

**24. Strength**

The day he dies, she feels that she has no strength to go on, but somehow she forces herself to continue.

**25. Mask**

They always wear masks, but the ones that are truest to their selves are the ones saved only for each other.

**26. Ice**

He is calm and rational, perfectly controlled, but there is love in his eyes when he looks at his creations and her.

**27. Fall**

They have fallen so low that they can no longer remember where they stood before they met.

**28. Forgotten**

"How could you have forgotten the anniversary of the day we met?" she screams, throwing the sake bottle at his head.

**29. Dance**

"Just this one," he coaxes, holding his hand out to her, and she rolls her eyes but smiles and accepts for it is, after all, just this once.

**30. Body**

He looked down at her from where he had propped himself up, and his eyes gentled as he looked at her sleeping form.

**31. Sacred**

Neither of them held anything truly sacred, but they both knew that they could never let an abomination such as Fei Wong Reed's wish come to pass.

**32. Farewells**

"Goodbye," he tells her, and she knows that it is the last time she will ever see him.

**33. World**

There are infinite worlds with infinite versions of everyone, but she is one of a kind and he always dies.

**34. Formal**

"There's no need to be so formal," he tells her; "please, just call me Clow."

**35. Fever**

She feels the heat cross her face and hopes that the fever will pass, for she cannot love a doomed man.

**36. Laugh**

His laugh is low and deep and melodious, and she is reminded of the bells that ring for funerals and births.

**37. Lies**

He lies almost every time he opens his mouth, but she still listens and pretends to believe.

**38. Forever**

Forever is a short time to her, made even shorter because he cannot promise it.

**39. Overwhelmed**

Yuuko is never overwhelmed, but somehow this one sorcerer completely exhausts her with his boundless energy and enthusiasm.

**40. Whisper**

"How could I ever forget you, Clow?" she sighs, staring up at the night sky as he slumbers behind her.

**41. Wait**

It seems she has waited forever for this meeting, and she knows that this blue-haired man sitting before her will change her world.

**42. Talk**

"Yuuko, please, we need to talk," he tells the door of her bedroom.

**43. Search**

She hunts through her house but never finds any tangible remnant of him.

**44. Hope**

He had hoped that this wouldn't happen, but at the same time he had always longed to take the witch in his arms.

**45. Eclipse**

His life eclipsed hers in the domain of magical achievements, but he never tried to drag her into the light that she wished so desperately to avoid.

**46. Gravity**

They were pulled to each other by a force so powerful that neither could deny it, and after a time neither wished to.

**47. Highway**

The road before them was long and fraught with danger, but they would face it together.

**48. Unknown**

They were never really strangers, having known each other long before they met.

**49. Lock**

She had thought that she had locked the door to her heart long ago, but somehow he managed to find the key.

**50. Breathe**

They took deep, gasping breaths even as they clung to each other, eyes burning with passion as they lunged towards each other again.


End file.
